First hour is unpaid

stu12345_2

only been with company 7 weeks, I pay nothing for van, it's free in all manners,
the only way I see it as a win is if I was in another job and I had to commute to that job, eg my time fuel, wear and tear, insurance  in my own car, adds up to more than £12.50 in time and money like Joe bloggs in a regular commute,would be have to be accounted for before I started earning at the place of work.

for example an old job of mines was 10 miles away, 30 mins drive there and 30 mins back, plus fuel, wear and tear costs.

as such in that old job , I would be worse off.

but my current mobile job, I don't know how to demand employer to drop this unpaid first hour rule and tell them they could be breaking employment law, even though they put it in my contract which I signed.

when I was interviewed for job, they told me about this and I said ok, but obviously I was annoyed and couldn't show it in job interview, but I guess I'm now starting to question it

housebuyer143

stu12345_2 said:

only been with company 7 weeks, I pay nothing for van, it's free in all manners,
the only way I see it as a win is if I was in another job and I had to commute to that job, eg my time fuel, wear and tear, insurance  in my own car, adds up to more than £12.50 in time and money like Joe bloggs in a regular commute,would be have to be accounted for before I started earning at the place of work.

for example an old job of mines was 10 miles away, 30 mins drive there and 30 mins back, plus fuel, wear and tear costs.

as such in that old job , I would be worse off.

but my current mobile job, I don't know how to demand employer to drop this unpaid first hour rule and tell them they could be breaking employment law, even though they put it in my contract which I signed.

when I was interviewed for job, they told me about this and I said ok, but obviously I was annoyed and couldn't show it in job interview, but I guess I'm now starting to question it

I wouldn't leave or complain over it tbh. Any job you get will have a commute and some are more than an hour and you don't get paid. You accepted the job knowing about it and therefore I wouldn't raise it as an issue. 

stu12345_2

yes I don't want to be a trouble maker, just wondered if employer was breaking employment law.and how to go about investigating it and raising it to their attention, diplomatically.

my old boss who just left this week said to me I'm paid not only work time but also travel time minus the first hour, so it makes sense not to rush like a madman to the jobs given as the daily timetable of work is an estimate to try add to 7 hours total.
( they said I penalise myself by being a fast driver)

and if it does indeed take a while to get to each job, more than they estimated, then they have to still pay total time, ( minus first hour)

 I'm a fast , competent driver, eg will pass a bus, caravan etc. they add up time worked at the sites, plus time van was in motion and calculate total daily wage,( basically if I rush , then there is no chance of overtime)

my new boss of this week seems like a clown and they said to me the other day when I had been on the  road and at sites for 6 hours,( whom I met at the last site) you don't need a break now, start work now at this last site, as you had one whilst you were driving cos that's the easy bit of the job and you can eat whilst driving.( to me that was a childish , ignoramous reply from a manager)

I had to point out, I'm not attempting my last tasks at the last site until I've had a break away from the van. with toilet, cooking and washing facilities and rest.
 (which I'm allowed to use at the sites visited)
they seem gobsmacked at my response.

so now you know the type of boss I'm up against in getting answers about this one hour rule.

penners324

Tell them to pay you for the hour or you leave

sheramber

Are there other employees?

Alanp

I was a mobile service engineer and we had this throughout my thirty years of doing that job, it was a bone of contention with all of us, it got worse over the years, we lost an hour per day, half an hour in the morning and again in the evening, we used to question a few things like if we had an accident in, say the first ten minutes of driving, did we have to wait 20 minutes before reporting it?, should we take work phone calls in our commute?, after all, we were technically travelling to work and it’s our time, I am a bit bolshie and would do just what I had to, ( quiet quitting it’s called nowadays) remember, you are in a van with different speed limits to cars so no need to rush about, I left that industry almost five years ago and don’t regret it, I think that now the company I worked for now pay from home to home, they had to do something to keep the staff from leaving, so I guess you either suck it up or find something else…

stu12345_2

yes Alanp I feel your pain, well spoke to ACAS ,they said they and the inland revenue can help, firstly if my wage goes below min wage, which I think it does.

if so employer would have to bring my previous month up to min wage only.we have probably another 10 mobile staff, they then said they could help if it breaches the rest period if the 48 HR working time directive, which I think it doesn't 

at the moment I had 10.5 hrs off last night, then if you add in travel time, about 9.5 hrs, that can be another matter of needing 11 hrs off between shifts 

they said as for am I due the 1hr wage, that depends on what's in my contracts, they said employers can create illegal contracts.

and if I think that is so, I need to find a solicitor for help.not acas.

my new boss , she is only a temp boss , till they get another, any problems I can email head office who then email the problem back to her!!.

acas said I can make an informal or formal complaint to my head office, it's my choice. but they did remind me, as I've been there under 2 years, they can get rid off me anytime they choose.
I'm not sure if I have the will to fight this. as the employer may turn out good in the end. my workmates, ( other mobiles) don't like this 1hr rule, but have never fought it, they have been employed longer than me .

it's a reasonably large company, so as long as your good at your job, which I am, then whether your face fits or not doesn't matter.
I found out there have been 7 bosses in last 5 years, due to them on a salary and having to put in a lot more hours than they expected ,so they left 

plus, there is only one car in household, wife uses it to her two part-time jobs, any other job I fancy doing the same sort of job, but static, not mobile,will involve a long walk or bus ride for me.

I also have  a lot of debts which I'm paying back and this job is helping, not sure how much to rock the boat here, as they say , as I've not been with the company long.

powerful_Rogue

stu12345_2 said:

yes Alanp I feel your pain, well spoke to ACAS ,they said they and the inland revenue can help, firstly if my wage goes below min wage, which I think it does.

if so employer would have to bring my previous month up to min wage only.we have probably another 10 mobile staff, they then said they could help if it breaches the rest period if the 48 HR working time directive, which I think it doesn't 

at the moment I had 10.5 hrs off last night, then if you add in travel time, about 9.5 hrs, that can be another matter of needing 11 hrs off between shifts 

they said as for am I due the 1hr wage, that depends on what's in my contracts, they said employers can create illegal contracts.

and if I think that is so, I need to find a solicitor for help.not acas.

my new boss , she is only a temp boss , till they get another, any problems I can email head office who then email the problem back to her!!.

acas said I can make an informal or formal complaint to my head office, it's my choice. but they did remind me, as I've been there under 2 years, they can get rid off me anytime they choose.
I'm not sure if I have the will to fight this. as the employer may turn out good in the end. my workmates, ( other mobiles) don't like this 1hr rule, but have never fought it, they have been employed longer than me .

it's a reasonably large company, so as long as your good at your job, which I am, then whether your face fits or not doesn't matter.
I found out there have been 7 bosses in last 5 years, due to them on a salary and having to put in a lot more hours than they expected ,so they left 

plus, there is only one car in household, wife uses it to her two part-time jobs, any other job I fancy doing the same sort of job, but static, not mobile,will involve a long walk or bus ride for me.

I also have  a lot of debts which I'm paying back and this job is helping, not sure how much to rock the boat here, as they say , as I've not been with the company long.

Being a new employee, I can see them saying goodbye very quickly.

BoGoF

Does your employer have a base in your area? 

If so, there would be nothing to stop them saying you must turn up there every morning before going out to jobs. This would then be normal commuting.

Most people have commuting time they don't get paid for and not sure I 'get' the fact that some jobs seem to expect payment from the moment you leave home.

LightFlare

My usual commute is 20min but I had to go to another location yesterday that took me 45min to get to.

I didn’t get paid for the extra time it took and my 9 1/2 hr day didn’t start untill I got there. 

As I said earlier, be thankful that you get free use of a van/fuel/insurance for the commute (have you checked the insurance as I suggested)

If the employees do make a big issue of it, the employer may insist the vehicles are collected/dropped of at  a depot instead which could be 30min away and you would have to find your own way and time to get there.

Not everything that you “feel” is unfair actually is